2014-12-20

Here are some notes on the original version of Speedwriting invented by Emma Dearborn in the 1920s. (After she died various people controlled the Speedwriting trademark over the years and made modifications as time went by.) To learn more about this system, get your hands on a copy of Speedwriting – the Natural Shorthand by Emma B. Dearborn; the original version was published in 1923 and re-printed several times between 1923 and 1937.

Speedwriting can be handwritten or typed on a typewriter. (It is keyboard-friendly.)

Speedwriting uses all of the same "devices" used in other shorthand systems: omission of silent letters, phonetic writing rather than mirroring English spelling, systematic abbreviation of long words, arbitrary wordsigns (a.k.a. brief forms) for the most common words, combining wordsigns without spaces between them into phrases, etc.

Handwritten Speedwriting uses a slightly modified version of regular cursive writing. The "t" is not crossed, it is merely a tall vertical line, so the "l" must be written with a distinct loop.

A declarative sentence ends with a regular period (a.k.a. full stop) and a question ends with a normal question mark.

"ity" at the end of a word can be represented by a semicolon: oddity > od; … divinity > dvn;

"nk" at the end of a syllable is represented by q: sink > sq … banquet > bqt

itq tyvb nts; mo, vtti. = I think they have been in the city most of the time.

fawl hwv tywk nets; osol-. = For a while, however, they worked near the city on some land.

update: Apparently I'm researching an article on the changes
that happened to Speedwriting over the years. That must be the reason
why there are so many Speedwriting books in my house?? After 1940 the
people who took over the Speedwriting trademark made a lot of significant changes to the
system.

2014-12-14

Sorry I haven’t posted anything in a while. I’ve been working on a FAQ for the Shorthand forum over on Reddit. Here’s the current draft…

Shorthand - Frequently Asked Questions

What is shorthand?

In general, the word “shorthand” refers to any system of symbols or
abbreviations that make it possible for a person to write or to type
much more quickly than ordinary “longhand” writing. The related term
“stenography” also includes systems that use special machines for
keyboarding or electronically transcribing spoken words.

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What is the history of shorthand?

People who do a lot of writing (such as clerks, monks, scribes and
secretaries) have been devising their own abbreviations for thousands of
years. Beginning in the 1600s the inventors of these systems began to
publish and advertise their creations. In the late 19th century there
was a shorthand craze during which dozens of new systems were published
and aggressively marketed.

In the middle of the 20th century, public interest in handwritten
shorthand began to dwindle in many countries. The teaching of shorthand
in American schools (with a tiny handful of exceptions) ended during the
late 1980s.

People who take a lot of notes (scholars, diarists, executive
assistants, etc) keep the art of shorthand alive and help provide
information to newcomers. New systems of shorthand are still being
invented and published.

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What shorthand systems are used by the most people?

The majority of professional stenographers are using stenotype machines or stenomasks to record trials and legislative sessions and to do closed captioning for television.

As far as handwritten systems are concerned, Teeline currently seems to be the most-used system in the English-speaking world, based on the number of new textbooks being published every decade
and the number of people taking classes. More than 4,000 journalism
students in the UK take exams in Teeline proficiency every year.

Pitman is also doing well, especially in India. Gregg shorthand is also popular in North America.
Dozens of other systems are in use among smaller numbers of people.

What kind of pen works best for shorthand?

For most types of shorthand, any pen that glides across the page very
easily will work. The Pentel Energel and Uniball Jetstream have good
reputations. Visit the /r/pens
subreddit for more info. A fountain pen combined with suitable paper
will also produce excellent results. (Coarse paper will slow down a
fountain pen and might clog the nib with fibers.) Visit the /r/fountainpens subreddit for additional information.

If you are learning Pitman or some other type of shorthand that uses a
distinction between thin lines and thick lines, you will get best
results with a fountain pen that has a slightly flexible nib. If you
want to write Gregg shorthand as they did it back in the day, you can
buy a restored Esterbrook fountain pen with an official Gregg-approved nib.

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Which shorthand system should I learn?

Nobody can really tell you who you should marry, right? It's the same
thing when you ask what shorthand system you should learn. There are
many choices. If you have definite answers to the following questions
you can narrow down your options:

Are you already strongly attracted to a system because of its
appearance or because its rules seem especially logical to you? If so,
that's probably the system you should learn.

Do you need the structure and encouragement of a classroom setting or
an online course with a teacher who will check your work and point out
your mistakes? If so, you should adopt whatever system is available to
you in that format.

How much time do you have to learn shorthand? What maximum speed do
you need to achieve? There is a tradeoff between ease of learning and
maximum practical speed.

If you must be able to accurately record every word in rapid speech
such as court testimony or legislative debate, you will need to spend
two or three years intensively studying Gregg or Pitman, or learn how to use a stenotype machine.

On the other hand, if you suddenly find yourself in a class or a job where you need to write more quickly right now, you can rapidly raise your handwriting speed by learning one of the "alphabetic" systems such as Forkner, Speedwriting, Stenoscript, etc.

Do you have enough patience to order a hardcopy textbook and wait a week for it to arrive, or do you have an "it must be online right now
dammit" mentality? If you are only willing to learn systems that are
completely documented in free internet resources, your options are
limited.

If you need to have all of your notes eventually stored in computer textfiles, you might consider learning a keyboard-based shorthand
that can be typed directly into a tablet or laptop rather than a
symbol-based system that would have to be transcribed into text.

Do you care about the existence or lack of an online community for
the system you learn? If that's important to you, be sure to look around
and see if there are any blogs, forums or tweets happening in the
shorthand system that you're planning to learn.

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What special terminology is used in discussing shorthand?

Like any other field of study, the description of shorthand systems involves some specialized jargon.

Shading refers to the use of thick and thin lines to
create distinct symbols. For example Pitman shorthand uses a thin
vertical line to represent T and a thick line for D. Shading is
relatively easy to do if you use a fountain pen, somewhat possible to do
with a pencil, and difficult with other writing instruments.

Position refers to a symbol having a different
meaning depending on its placement. For example in Teeline shorthand a
horizontal dash generally represents T when it is written high above the
line of writing but the same symbol represents D when it is written on
the line of writing.

The line of writing refers to the pre-printed line
on the ruled notebook paper used for writing shorthand. It is similar to
the concept in typography known as the baseline.

Word-sign or logogram refers to a
brief symbol that arbitrarily represents a single word. In Gregg
shorthand these are called "brief forms," in Teeline they are called
"special outlines," in Forkner they are called "abbreviations," in early
Pitman literature they are called "grammalogues." Almost every
shorthand system has its own name for these symbols.

Phrasing refers to the practice of writing multiple
word-signs together, without any space between them, as a way of
increasing speed. For example, if \ stands for "and" and / stands for
"the," you can combine them into a V-shaped symbol to represent the
phrase "and the." (In Teeline, phrases are called "word groupings.")

Words per minute (abbreviated wpm or w.a.m. for words a minute)
is a measurement of handwriting speed. In the English-speaking world,
the average longhand writing speed is estimated to be around 25 or 30
wpm. The exact definition of "word" in "words per minute" varies from
one shorthand system to another (in Gregg, 1.4 syllables = 1 word). Some
people prefer to use measurements like syllables per minute or phonemes
per minute when comparing shorthand systems.